Case Study
The Food & Wine Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo
Client
Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo CVB
Industry
Travel
Food
Lifestyle
Services
Creative Earned Media Campaign
Situation
Cabo or Cancun – which has the cheapest airfare? That’s pretty much the buying pattern of the typical tourist heading to Mexico.
Our client at the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo CVB approached us and said (and we’re just paraphrasing here) we don’t have the budget of Cabo or Cancun, but we’re just as beautiful and would love to get more exposure to attract more tourists. So true. But if we tried to take the same tactics as those two other markets – traditional advertising and PR – we’d just get outspent. Which is to say, drowned out.
So we decided to create something that would give people a reason to choose Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo over ANY Mexican destination. Make it no longer about cheap airfare, but rather about the specific destination.
Execution
Based on intense consumer research, we found that travelers loved coming to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo for an unspoiled, authentic Mexican experience. And a large part of that experience was through the incredible cuisine.
We observed that Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo was emerging as a culinary hub for talented chefs in Mexico. Based on that insight, we came up with the concept of hosting Latin America’s first FOOD & WINE Festival in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. We developed a partnership with FOOD & WINE Magazine, as well as celebrity chefs Rick Bayless, Marcus Samuelsson and Michael Symon, and worked to produce a travel experience that would cement a unique place for Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo in travelers’ minds. For discerning travelers looking for an authentic way to experience the cuisine of Mexico, this is it.
Results
400 mil
Impressions
NYC
Used as a comparison for the culinary scene
First
Food & Wine Magazine International Festival
